Natasha's Birthday Bash: Masquerade Madness
by MandNwriterzz
Summary: The several times Steve and Natasha tried to hide their 'relationship', and the one time they 'didn't'. Romanogers.
1. Study Group Avengers

**A/N: This is an AU where the Avengers are teenagers and almost out of high school and I don't own Marvel or basic plot. And please read my Romanogers fanfic, You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart, now on my profile!**

* * *

Despite library rules, the students inside were buzzing with activity. The glass doors swung open with a dramatic flourish and a young adult man strutted into the room, wearing a black baseball cap, a reddish orange trimmed blazer and designer jeans. He flashed a mischievous grin at the librarian, who immediately scowled at the all too familiar man.

"Mr. Stark!" she snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"Wouldn't you love to know, Lorraine," Tony Stark replied and flashed his old school ID. He then made his way over to a certain table, where a close knit study group of teenagers were sitting among scattered, thick textbooks and typing away on the way out of date computers.

"Come on, team," urged one of the boys at the table. He had sandy brown hair that actually looked cool today and a long sleeved red T shirt. Steve Rogers, captain of the sports team. He was now reprimanding the others quietly while looking cautiously around the library. He hadn't noticed Tony yet. "Quit messing around. We have to study."

"I am studying!" argued the red haired girl at him.

"Studying what?" He smiled flirtatiously at her and she managed a quick, weak smile for the same emotion back, but then glanced at one of the other boys uncomfortably and Tony rolled his eyes.

"'Team'?" Tony snorted as he plopped down onto the empty seat next to Steve. The other boy looked at him in surprise.

"Stark? What are you doing here?"

Ignoring the question, the dark haired man shrugged. "Who cares about this crap?" He flipped absentmindedly through a textbook and the boring sentences that dragged along the pages made his brain and eyes hurt. "No worries, _team. _I'll just buy off the exam board for you." He was the heir of beyond wealthy businessman, Howard Stark, so yeah, it was definitely possible. He could have done it ages ago.

"Uh, Tony," chided another man at the table, a timid and shy science geek named Bruce Banner. "I think we should just study. I don't want to get in trouble." He was glancing nervously at the others and Tony knew that they were still the rebels of the school, at least the library, considering the murderous glare Librarian Lorraine was shooting them. He had taught them so well.

"Yeah, don't buy anyone off, Stark," agreed Clint Barton with a carefree shrug, his gray blue orbs dark with fatigue. "I'll just copy off Freckles here." He nudged the other one with his shoulder, who gave a brief smile before digging his nose back into his book.

"Wait, why are you even here, Stark?" the only girl there demanded. It was the beautiful Natasha Romanoff, Clint's ex girlfriend, but they claimed to be friends now- _uh huh, yeah right_, Tony thought- and her straight fiery red mane of hair was swishing from side to side as her verdigris eyes inspected Tony's features, searching for any deception. Maybe they knew him a little _too _well. "Didn't you graduate, like, three years ago already?" she continued with a smirk.

He returned it with a wider smirk. "Just wanted to visit my favorite crew again. It's like _Black Widow _all over again." The other men at the table gave him brief, imperceptible nods. "But still, what's up with the studies? Anything juicy going on at school that I need to know about?" He wiggled his eyebrows and leaned in and Steve and Natasha rolled their eyes at his immature behavior.

Suddenly, a tall and blond man walked up and sank down into another chair at their table. Gesturing dramatically with his hand, he announced in a loud and clear voice, "What is this study you speak of? I shall vanquish this threat, my friends!"

"Oh, God," Tony groaned and bored his eyes into the ceiling. "Why do you still have that crazy foreign exchange student?"

"He's cool, Stark," Banner mumbled in defense of Thor Odinson, still looking at the textbook. Tony looked back down and his eyes widened.

"Uh, you vanquish your shirt too, Point Break?" the dark haired one asked, his dark brown eyes avoiding Thor's tanned and bare chest uncomfortably.

"Shut up, Stark," snapped Natasha distractedly. "Let him talk."

As if on cue, Librarian Lorraine rushed over to their table and pushed her horn rimmed glasses up her pointy nose.

"Mr. Odinson!" she exclaimed in a fierce but quiet tone. "Keep your voice down. And find your shirt! What is _wrong_ with you? Attempt to be decent for once!"

While the others sniggered under their breaths, Thor sighed out an exasperated gust of air. "But I was just at the swimming pool-" But after another sharp look, he relented. "Yes, Lady Lorraine." He rose from the table and exited from the library, ignorant of the appreciative glances of the other girls at other tables.

"So, where your girlfriends?" Tony laced his fingers together, cradled his chin in them and stared directly at Natasha, who was staring down at a book painfully and biting her lip.

"Huh, what? Oh, they're all at Hill's place."

"Cool. Funky Town." He remembered that very spacious loft and was eager to go there again. Alas, the owner loathed him and only let him in because of his connections to his incredible girlfriend, Pepper Potts. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing." The redheaded woman slammed the book down in frustration and put her head in her hands.

Steve glanced at her, his navy blue eyes swelling with concern and reaching a hand out. "Hey, is it-"

"Shut up, Rogers! Not in front of them!" exclaimed she and she pushed her chair away from the table and stalked off towards the book shelves. Steve groaned at himself and followed after her.

Tony's eyebrows raised. "Oooh. What's up with them?"

Banner shrugged, also staring after them. "Dunno. They've been acting weird a lot lately."

"Oooh," crooned Tony again. "Juicy."

"I think they are- what do you call it?- sneaking around," claimed Thor, who had acquired a black T shirt and sat back down in his chair.

"_Even more_ juicy."

Clint shook his head. "It's not happening. Trust me." It was obvious he still had feelings for Natasha, and she probably had lingering ones too, but not as strongly as Clint's.

Everyone else just shook their heads. "Yeah, right."

* * *

Meanwhile, at a modern and very stylish loft, which only Tony Starks' digs could beat, in the middle of the city, a girl with long raven black locks slid down the railing of the curved stairs and tried not to wobble on the way down. The wind whistled past her ears and her dark high heels made impact with the floor with a thud.

"This place is too cool!" Darcy Lewis exclaimed as she walked over to the plush dark red couch and removed her glasses. "Maria's dad has to let us use this place for the party. We can't use Stark's because that'll be too obvious, right?"

Pepper Potts swung her reddish blonde hair over her shoulder. "Exactly. You would not believe how miserable Tony was when he found out we weren't using his tower for it. As for Maria's dad, well . . ." She gestured across from her with one hand. "Jane's sort of, uh, working on it."

Jane Foster was sitting cross legged, or rather a lotus position with her smooth eyelids drooped over her eyes. Darcy stared bizarrely at her best friend. "She is?" she asked in a quiet and incredulous voice.

"Shh!" hushed Jane, opening one chocolate brown eye. "I'm concentrating on sending the positive energy to Maria's father's head, so that he will say-"

"Yes!" a triumphant cry rose up from the doorway of the kitchen and finished Jane's sentence as Maria Hill entered the room. She extended her arms widely with a proud grin on her face. "My dad agrees that we can have the birthday party here in the loft."

The three other girls cheered out exclaims of joy and happiness. Pepper rose from her chair, pink cell phone already in hand. "I'll call Tony and have him spread the word to the guys," announced she and she quickly exited the room.

"Ugh, I better not hear any sappy comments," grumbled the black haired girl on the couch.

"You don't think Natasha's going to guess, do you?" Jane asked unsurely and raised a dark eyebrow.

"What?" Maria waved off the question with a flip of her hand. "That we are throwing her a surprise birthday party a month before her actual birthday? No way! Not unless someone spills." Her voice had taken a dark and accusing tone as she planted her hands on her hips and trained her dark eyes onto one of the other girls. Jane also crossed her arms over her chest with a smug and expectant lift of her eyebrows.

Darcy awkwardly scratched at the material of the couch, her dark blue orbs fixed on the floor, feeling everyone else's eyes on her, even Pepper's from the doorway. "Yeah, speaking of that . . ."

"Darcy!" they all cried.

"I wouldn't do it on purpose," she explained, waving her hands around to assure she hadn't spilled the element of surprise. "It's just that I say the first thing that comes into my head, which makes me the worst at keeping secrets. It's sort of tragic." She ended glumly.

The blonde walked back into the room with an ending click of her cell phone. "Tony knows. The guys are in."

"You did tell them it's a masquerade party, right?" asked the brunette, unfolding her legs.

"Yeah, I said to wear the outfits for the fashion and animal show fundraiser, since we're having the party right after," Pepper confirmed with a nod.

Maria sighed. "Yes, having to train with those pets. Joyous day."

"Hill, you do know they don't have any home and we're giving them a chance to?" Jane said, being the ever so compassionate one.

"I know. It's just that they keep following me and it's creepy."

"Okay, guys, we better head to the Dish before Natasha gets there," Darcy warned, also rising from her sitting position.

All the others agreed and headed for the door.

* * *

"Come on, Nat," Steve sighed, leaning against the bookshelf. The aisle was empty, except for him and the redheaded girl in front of him. Or rather, her back in front of him. "We can't keep hiding, you know." But he couldn't help but throw a glance over his shoulder to see if anyone was overhearing. Natasha let out a sarcastic snort.

"You're one to talk," she commented, turning to face him.

"You know some people won't approve of this."

"Then why are you doing it? Come on, Rogers. Take risks for once. And people are _not_ going to go ballistic. Trust me and chill out."

The sandy haired boy never understood how she could be so calm and cool about things, especially since it was her own problems. But hell, he trusted her. More than he should have to. He nodded. "Fine. But when are we going to tell them?"

"Hopefully when we are old, when we have white hair and wrinkles and perhaps, and that's a big perhaps, if there are any kids to tell it to."

Steve rolled his navy orbs around in their sockets at her sarcasm. "Seriously, Natasha. We have to do it sooner or later."

"How about later? Like, a very long later?"

"Nat-"

"Stark will make the most cheeky, disrespectful and offensive 'jokes' ever since he's Tony Stark and Clint will hate us forever because he'll be too offended that I didn't ask him in the first place. As for the girls, they'll start ask those annoying questions all friends ask and you know no one normal can bear that."

"But you're not normal, Romanoff."

Those lovely blue green eyes met his. "Excuse me?"

"You're not a very good person," he started when she had finally turned to face him, "but you could be."

All she could do was smile slightly. But then it faded. She knew he didn't mean it about what they were talking about, but about something else. And that just made her smile again. "And would you still like to help me with that?"

He flashed that unparalleled, sweet yet dazzling grin of his. "I will always want to."


	2. Stalkers and Chaos

**A/N: Don't own basic plot, Marvel or its characters. And thanks for reading!**

* * *

Later that day, Natasha was slumped down in one of the comfy benches at the usual hangout of teenagers in that age, the cafe called The Dish. She was alternating between scribbling in her notebook, ripping out the page and then crumpling it into a wad, the paper's crinkling grating against her nerves. She picked up a tiny piece of her blueberry muffin and chewed it vigorously. She rubbed her fingers into her temples, trying to dispel her spinning thoughts.

"Hey, don't mind me," whispered her friend, Phil Coulson from a table nearby. "But some guy in the corner is giving you the eye."

The redhead turned her head to look over the distance between her large table and the window. In front of the window was a boy sitting in the corner. He had long and sleek jet black hair and deep cerulean blue eyes. He briefly met her gaze and sent a mischievous wink her way before returning to his book. Natasha looked over at Coulson and rolled her eyes.

"That's Loki," she sighed. "He's from Tesseract Academy and has been stalking me ever since the beginning of tenth grade."

"Ah. Well, seems like he hasn't stopped."

_No, he hasn't_, she grumbled in her head. Despite their schools- SHIELD High and Tesseract Academy- being sworn enemies, Loki had stalked her and flirted with her every time she was available and alone. There was this time where he had cornered her in an empty hallway and put the most forceful moves on her, and all she could do was growl at him to back off. Thank God Hill had walked out of the bathroom and assisted her with it or Loki wouldn't have left her alone.

"Yeah, well, whatever. And are you _sure _he was looking at me?" Natasha hoped this didn't mean he was going to track her down once she left the cafe.

"Positive," confirmed Coulson, nodding his head as he got up from his seat, portable coffee cup in hand. "As a famous British guy said, I cannot tell a lie."

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "That was George Washington, Coulson."

"Hey, girl!" The sitting girl's back was now ramrod straight once she heard the voice and she shoved the notebook back in her backpack and turned to face the blonde woman heading up to her. The corners of her lips quirked up slightly.

"Hey, Pep," she greeted. "What's up? I thought you had forgotten me here."

They all gathered around the table and Darcy shook her head. "Are you kidding me?" she said, her raven locks swinging around and spreading her arms out. "We have all been at Maria's place, talking about you."

Hill immediately and quietly swung her foot up in a swift arc to clip against Darcy's knee as a very dangerous warning. The dark haired girl cried out, "Ow!"

"About me?" Natasha instantly sent her guards up, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"About what _you _have been designing for the fundraiser," Pepper amended smoothly. The redhead female nodded and sighed inwardly. All the good and sensible jobs that were perfect for her had been taken already, so she was the fashion designer for the group. It wasn't really her thing, but everyone agreed that she was actually good at it because of her cool and fashionable yet professional and no nonsense-y style.

Jane raised her coffee mug. "We can't wait to see what we are going to wear."

"I did get your request down." Natasha reached back down in her bag and pulled out a paper model. "For your little puppy, doggy butterfly wings." She handed it to Jane, who cooed.

"Aw, how cute is that!" Natasha really didn't go for cute, but these were her best friends, so she made an exception. Everyone else complimented them too and her dark mood slightly lifted.

"I love it!" said Pepper.

The red haired woman checked her watch and the dark mood was back. "Oh, sorry, guys. I got to go." She slung her backpack onto her shoulder and was about to leave when Pepper called out to her.

"Hey, remember, there's the rehearsal this evening with the pets and how they are supposed to model and stuff. You can't be late." Her pale blue eyes inspected her friend's green ones, who looked away.

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure. I'll be there." She headed for the door in a sweeping zoom and Hill glowered at Darcy from across the table.

"I can't believe you almost spilled about the party!" she hissed.

"Sorry. The words blurt out before I can stop it. And do you think she'll catch on to Operation Black Widow?" she asked, using the code words for the surprise birthday party. But before anyone could answer, she fired another question: "You don't think she's coming back for the rest of her muffin, do you?" She grabbed it anyway and began munching on it. Everyone else rolled their eyes, except for Jane, who was watching something outside the front window intently.

* * *

Natasha was striding out of The Dish when she felt a cold shadow slip over her back. She spun around and let out an exasperated breath. "Seriously, Loki?" she exclaimed. "Can you _not _take a hint?"

"Oh, I just came to see my little spider," he replied and unglued himself from leaning against the strip of wall near the cafe's entrance. He was more persistent than ever today. Natasha would expect this kind of persistence from an ex boyfriend, but then again, this was _Loki_, after all.

"I don't care if you're Thor's brother-"

He held up an interrupting finger. "Adoptive brother, Miss Romanoff."

How dare he act formal with her? It took all her willpower not to leap on him and bash his annoying and slimy face into the gravely sidewalk. "Okay. But I just don't care. At all. Now why don't you just take a hike already?"

"You draw me, Natasha, like a moth to a flame. A very gorgeous, dangerous, mystifying flame." Oh, good God. He was about to go into poetry mode.

"Leave. Me. _Alone_." She was growling the words forcefully through her teeth.

Suddenly, he was right in front of her and she could fell his body heat and the wall pressing into her back. She looked down to see how much of an arc it would take to ram her knee into his . . . unit.

"Why should I leave you alone, oh, strong and beautiful Natasha?" His hand was reaching up to caress her face and her knee was getting ready itself when Loki was off of her and sprawled out on the sidewalk. Her eyes widened as they stared down at him and then looked at her hero in a hoodie.

"Rogers?" Loki croaked incredulously up at Steve, who had an outraged expression on his features.

"The next time you touch her," he snarled in a low voice at him, his blue eyes blazing, "I dismember your limbs."

"Hey," Natasha chided gently, laying a hand on Steve's shoulder. As much as she was grateful, impressed and _touched_ by his act of heroism, she kept on her icy cold demeanor. "Let's go. The son of a bitch isn't worth it." Steve looked back at her and the softness to his face returned as he nodded.

"Oh, so this is why you throw off my love?" cried the black haired man on the ground, pointing accusingly at the sandy haired man in front of him. "Because you are dating _him_?"

"We are not dating!" the other two people responded and then they looked at each other again. Why did they always do that?

"See? You even share a mind together!"

"Go away, Loki," ordered the redhead, turning her back on him.

"And you are not even denying it! Wait until I tell everyone about you and Rogers."

"No!" Steve and Natasha yet again exclaimed and the woman glared at the boy next to her, who sheepishly shrugged.

"Why not?" Loki crossed his arms and waited for the explanation.

"Because," Steve said simply.

"Because . . . ?" Loki nodded his head several times while waiting.

"Look, Loki, please don't tell anyone about me and Steve," Natasha said. "No one can know that we were sneaking around. _Please_." She batted her long and thick lashes and pasted a coy smile on her lips. It only took Loki two seconds before staring upwards and sighing out a grumbled, "Fine."

"Thank you," she whispered, still wearing the smile.

"But I'll be watching you, because there is something strange about this and I am going to find out."

"You do that," nodded Natasha and Steve and she started down the sidewalk and it wasn't until they turned the corner that Natasha's dazzling smile transformed into a grimace.

"Ugh! I need a shower!"

"Told you this was going to get complicated," said the boy next to her.

She glared at Steve. "You could have not shown up."

"Sorry for saving you from a possible rape."

"Loki's not a rapist."

Steve let out a scoff. "He stalks you, flirts with you against your lack of interest and holds the weirdest attraction towards you. It was bound to happen, Nat."

"Whatever. I had it covered."

"Okay. You're welcome, anyway," he said bluntly and walked faster and ahead of her. She slowed down for a moment to stare at Steve's retreating back. Oh, why did she hate hurting him? Why was being with him make her feel so alive yet when they fought, it felt like a battlefield? Neither was going to compromise. And Natasha now wondered, with a scary shock, if this was going to destroy their friendship.

Or was it even close to a friendship?

* * *

That evening, everyone was backstage. rummaging through costume baskets and whispering excitedly about the fundraiser. Suddenly, Principal Nick Fury's voice boomed from in front of the curtain.

"Everybody, the rehearsal is going on in five minutes!"

Pepper walked in with Tony, a worried expression set on her features. "Has anyone seen Steve and Natasha?" she asked in a strained voice.

"You didn't find them?" Jane said and both of them shook their heads.

"Nope, we looked all over," Tony said, crossing his arms.

Hill gasped. "What are we going to do? Natasha is one of the first to go on. We can't say they didn't show up. Fury will blow a gasket."

"Or reveal what's under the eyepatch." Tony shuddered.

"Hey, should I go red head or blonde?" asked a girl a few feet from them to her friends next to her. She was holding up two respective colored wigs to her face and looking at them, Darcy suddenly cracked an idea. She turned over to a tall, brunette boy next to her.

"Ian, you don't go on until the end of the show, right?"

Ian Boothby, the secretary's assistant, nodded immediately, despite not getting her idea since he had a crush on her. "Yeah, why?"

"I think I know how to buy some extra time . . ."

* * *

Clint looked up from his clipboard from beside Fury. "Okay, we're ready to go," he muttered into his microphone earpiece.

"Let's do it, then," ordered Fury.

"Lights, camera, action and go!"

Tony waltzed onto the stage, trying to control a large, white furred dog with pointed ears at his side. "Good evening, everyone," he announced into the microphone. "Tonight we will be presenting by the use of modeling the homeless animals of the local animal shelter. So please, welcome our models!"

Suddenly, the dog leaped on top of Tony and began licking at his face. The models were now streaming onto the stage. Hill, donning a funky looking hat, was about to make it halfway across when her large beagle suddenly stopped in its tracks. She lightly tugged at his leash. "Come on!" she ordered.

While she did that, Darcy nervously walked across, trying to soothe her jumpy white cat in her wreathed with a bright orange sash arms. It kept mewing and jumped on top of the flimsy curtain, trying to get away from all the dogs, and that was when Ian as 'Natasha' came in. He was wearing the straight redhead wig and large high heels, although he kept the socks on.

Fury looked astonished. "Natasha?" he couldn't help saying and Clint was having a similar reaction.

"Uh, yes?" Ian as 'Natasha' asked in a high and completely falsetto tone.

"Come here a minute." But the dog Ian was walking zipped under his feet and made him trip. The other dog who had been previously licking at Tony's face was now bounding after Darcy's escapee cat, who mewed in terror and began to steal away from him. They knocked over the buckets of bright purple paint that Thor had been using, covering his T shirt in little splatters and the animals' paw prints were covering the floor. They sprinted around wildly and knocked over the ladder where Banner was standing on and he barely managed to hang on to the rafter of lights he was working on, his feet dangling several feet off the ground and crying out in surprise. The two pets were now chasing toward the exit.

And that was when the doors swung open and in stepped Steve and Natasha.

"That's my cat! Don't let her escape!" Darcy was crying out rapidly and Natasha swooped the little pet int her hands while Steve calmed the dog down.

Natasha looked around. "Hey, are we late?"

"Are you _late_?" snapped Fury angrily and gestured around him at the messed up theatre room. "Do you see this place?" While Steve and Natasha exchanged looks of guilt, he added, "I don't know what you were doing, but this is very important to me and the school and the animal shelter. And if none of you can take that seriously, I'll have to move you to another community service project. Let's clean up and try it again. But you two," he said, pointing to the tardy teenagers. "I want you in my office. Now." Before he moved though, he saw Banner still dangling off the rafter. "Can someone get a ladder over here?"

"Uh, so what exactly happened?" Natasha inquired, still staring around the place in a bewildered fashion. Steve slyly grinned.

"I don't think I want to know."

Ian, who was still wearing the 'Natasha' outfit, was tired of Tony snickering at him and ripped off the wig and jerked off the shoes. "We were trying to cover for you," he explained to them.

"Where were you two?" Pepper asked, eyes wide.

"The bus broke down," Steve said while Natasha, at the same time, said, "The subway crashed." They looked at each other and then Steve said, "The subway crashed," and Natasha repeated, "The bus broke down."

"We try to cover for you and you lie to us," snapped Coulson.

"Brilliant," agreed Thor, crossing his arms.

"We're not lying-," Natasha started before Fury called out, "Excuse me! My office, now, please!"

The two of them walked off and Hill and Pepper peered at their friends suspiciously. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" whispered Pepper.

"Hmm," Hill agreed. "Something is up with them."

"Definitely. And I say we find out what it is."


	3. Rumor Has It

**A/N: School's happening, so updating may take awhile. Please forgive me. But the bonus is that there will be some Cap 2 scenes in this fic, so stay tuned. Here comes one now, with my own retake. So I don't own basic plot, Marvel or Romanogers sadly.**

* * *

Steve and Natasha were each trying to avoid each other's eyes, but especially the angry man sitting in the dark swivel chair behind his desk in front of them, his fingers laced into fists over his mouth. The tension was almost palpable, so palpable both of the teenagers were afraid that it was about to shatter into a million pieces when Fury finally broke the suffocating silence.

"This is the fourth time you two have been tardy," he started gravely, with a stern glint flashing in his one good dark eye. "I don't know what is going on, but if this happens again-" Steve cut him off before he finished.

"With all due respect, sir," the sandy haired boy interrupted in a rushed and breathless gust of air. "If you're going to punish anyone, it should be me. I caused Natasha to be tardy, so if anyone's to blame, that'll be me."

The red haired girl next to him whipped her head over to face him with her jaw hanging open. "Excuse me?" she snapped incredulously and then looked at Fury. "It was me, Principal Fury. You know me. I'm the rebellious student, not Steve."

"Oh, you think you can be blamed for this because you're the rebellious one?" Steve scoffed again under his breath.

"Yes. Name one time you've been in trouble when we _weren't_ involved."

"You two-" Fury started, but the two were at it again.

"I'm just saying that if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't get in so much trouble. It's actually Stark's fault if you think about it," sniffed the redhead, crossing her arms and not looking at Steve. The other teen turned his lanky frame away from her.

"Well, I agree with that. And I'm the one who gets you guys out of the gutter, aren't I?"

"You two-" said Fury again, with a little more urgency to his tone, but they couldn't even hear him over their fiery attitudes.

"You know what?"

"What?" Natasha replied, finally staring at him.

"There has been something I have wanted to tell you ever since we've become friends."

"And what is that?"

Steve was really energetic now and didn't even really have control over the words coming out of his mouth. "Oh, I don't know, maybe that I-"

"_YOU TWO!_" Fury shouted, having enough of their bickering. The two people in front of him jumped in surprise and immediately turned back around to face him. Natasha looked mortified while Steve made an excellent job of memorizing the toes of his Converse sneakers. Fury leaned back in his care and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I am even saying this- no, considering it- but it's the only plausible reason why you two are tardy."

They both gazed at him with wide eyes and both exchanged a brief flash of a frightened look before turning back to Fury.

"You two know me well enough to know that I don't listen to rumors, especially ones made by Mr. Stark," he said and they both nodded. "But I have to ask just in case: Is it true that you two are in a relationship?" They both blinked in shock and didn't answer, making Fury repeat, "Are you two together or dating or whatever you kids call it nowadays?"

Now they both were back in their outbursts. "No!" cried Natasha.

"No way!" Steve waved his arms around in denial, also shaking his head vigorously from side to side. His dark blue eyes then slanted to the side. "But what exactly makes you say that?"

Natasha folded her arms on top of her chest and shot the warning glare she always gave him nowadays with those lovely blue green eyes. "Wait a second," she realized and snapped her head back to Fury, her dark scarlet locks fanning out in an arc. "Did you say _Tony Stark _has been telling these rumors?"

"That is correct," nodded the adult in front of them.

Steve's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh, when I get my hands on him-"

"That is, unless I get my hands on him first," growled the girl next to him and they nodded at each other and marched to the door to hunt down the big mouth Stark and hail down the enormous wave of their wrath upon him when Fury cleared his throat.

"Ahem." Natasha and Steve spun around to face him yet again. "You can't leave yet."

* * *

"Then what happened?" sighed out the words of Sam Wilson, one of Steve's best friends, who was currently leaning languidly against a large tree trunk, his grey T shirt sticking to his chest with sweat. He was out of breath from the running session they had just did around the gigantic area of Washington D.C. Steve, of course, was merely sucking in a small breath since he didn't run out of energy as fast of Sam, although he was a good athlete himself.

Steve shrugged, the sunlight playing out the golden streaks on his hair. "We had to do extra work for the fundraiser and stuff. It's no problem, really. As long as Natasha doesn't get in trouble or I'm in trouble."

"Speaking of which . . ." Sam then flashed a roguish grin, showing his white teeth that contrasted against his dark skin, and his brown eyes had an impish light flickering in them. "When were you planning to tell me that you were dating Romanoff?"

The other boy then let out a flustered chuckle under his breath. "Yeah, right."

Sam peered up at his best friend, eyes widened in bewilderment and then in disappointment. "Seriously, dude? She is intelligent, confident and sassy, not to mention smoking hot-"

"I'm not looking for smoking hot," muttered the other boy back irritatedly.

"But you have to admit, she is, right?"

"Well, yeah," Steve agreed absentmindedly. Natasha was not just hot, she was gorgeous. People couldn't help but watch as she went by because every single thing about her kind of demanded it, you know? And he was one of the many men who she attracted. And then Steve noticed Sam staring at him with the same stupid grin on his face. He jammed his sneaker clad foot into his side. "Idiot."

He then replied in a laughing voice, "I'm sorry, but if you keep showing up with her, late, everywhere, you can't not expect people to think that you're not 'getting in the sack with her', as Stark would say." He said the words using his fingers as air quotes.

The golden haired man looked down at him, blue eyes wide with great astonishment. "Okay, dating her was absurd enough," he started slowly with a shake of his head, "but no one would believe we're sleeping together."

"Oh, so you admit it?" Sam now looked intrigued, his fatigue evaporated and sitting up and leaning in intently. Steve glowered down at him again.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"But, dude, seriously, what do you two do every day?"

Steve then looked over into the distance. "Nothing special."

"I'm going to believe you two are dating until you tell me what's really going on," protested Sam stubbornly, gratefully accepting Steve's hand that pulled him up on his feet. "And as Fury believes, it is completely possible of you two dating."

"No, it isn't," Steve argued, but was secretly adding in his head, _Oh, if only. _But as if on cue, there was the loud purr and rumble of a souped up engine and the the increased cranking of rock music through a dashboard's stereo and both the athletic boys turned around to see the hottest, sleek black car ever. Inside was a way hotter, particular flame haired woman.

"Hey, fellas," she greeted in a low and seductive voice and straightened her matching black leather jacket.

"Oh, you're really not dating?" Sam whispered at his best friend and then scoffed in deep disbelief. "Yeah, right. She is picking you up, for God's sake!"

"Not in the sense you're talking about," muttered the other one in an annoyed tone.

"It's sort of the same thing, Rogers."

"Hurry up, Steve! We got a train to catch!" Natasha called out impatiently, unaware of what they were speaking of.

"Hey, also remember Black Widow and your job," Sam whispered at Steve and he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, keep her distracted," he confirmed and began to stroll over to the car, telling the redhead, "He thinks we're dating."

She then let a mischievous and playful smile quirk the corners of her dark rosebud pink lips upwards. "Well, then, _babe_," she said in a coquettish tone. "Get your very hot ass in the car now."

"That's hilarious." He opened the car door and slid into the passenger's seat and added quietly, "Please do not encourage him." They both eyed Sam's impish smile.

"If you're not dating . . ." Sam shrugged and laid his hands on his knees as he crouched down. He nodded an appreciative glance at Natasha. "How you doin'?"

"Hey," she answered back and geared up the engine. Driving off, she sneaked a glance out of the corner of her eye and laughed at when she saw that Steve's pale cheeks were now flaming red. "Oh, come on! That was just for fun."

"Oh, is that what it was? It wasn't fun to me," he retorted, looking out the window.

"You really do have a very hot ass, though."

"Nat, please, don't even start going on about my ass. I'm very confident about it, thank you." But Steve was hiding the crawling patch of red on his neck.

"Do you mind if I call you that?" Natasha asked once they stopped at a blinking traffic light.

"Call me what?"

"Babe."

"Yes, very much. With all my heart, actually."

"Okay, how about baby?" She was obviously teasing him, but that didn't stop him from getting really pissed off.

"Same thing, so no again."

"Gumdrop?" She wiggled her eyebrows much like Tony did.

He frowned at her with his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes dark with a glare. "This is ridiculous, Natasha."

"Oh, I got it! Kitten."

"No comment."

"How about 'soldier'?"

"Ugh, no! Too boring and it makes me sound old-ish."

She now scrunched her brows together in confusion. "No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

The redhead tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. "Come on, kitten."

Steve again just ignored her.

Natasha flashed a grin glowing with triumph. "Soldier, it is then."

* * *

"This is boring!" complained Tony, slamming his hands down on the table at The Dish, the only noise in the otherwise silent cafe and then placing his face in his upturned hands. "Someone say something."

"I hate you," Darcy cried.

"Other than her and that's obvious, Daisy!"

"It's Darcy, you dumbass!"

"Pepper, Daisy called me an dumbass!" the dark haired man whined to his girlfriend next to him, not even bothering to use her real name. The blonde next to him just shifted in his arms and placed a frown at both of them. Thor then waltzed into the cafe, inspecting something in his hands.

"What you got, Point Break?" asked Tony curiously and Thor revealed the fifty dollar bill he was holding.

"I found this on the sidewalk," he explained, shaking his head. "Perhaps we should find its owner-" But Tony had already snatched the money out of the blond man's hands and kissed it dearly.

"Oh, yes! It's a sign from the heavens! I'll buy everyone drinks with this." And with that happy note, he leapt up out of his seat and headed for the counter. Darcy shook her dark waves of hair around.

"That guy has a billionaire for a father, yet he uses stolen money to get us all drinks. Real nice guy you got there, Pepper," she noted sarcastically, but the other one just sighed. Clint laughed.

"I doubt she can hear you. I guess love is deaf, too."

"Come on, Barton, Lewis," Hill replied. "I could use a drink. Or a soda, in this case." The bell at the door rung again as the two missing teenagers from their group strolled in. Clint's brow took a shadowy turn as he watched the two of them go over with big smiles on their faces. Natasha never smiled like that around him. They both slid into the seat.

"Hey, guys," the redhead greeted. "What's up?"

"I got the drinks!" Tony zoomed over with a tray full of bottles of fizzing with bubbly soda. Steve accepted one gratefully.

"Thanks, I needed a boost."

Tony handed out the other drinks, obviously giving Darcy's last, which she just sneered at and Tony raised his own bottle. "A toast," he announced and gestured to Thor next to him. "To Point Break, for finding that cash to provide us this beverage blessing." They all tapped bottles and Steve was hesitant to take a sip.

"Wait a second," he started slowly. "You stole the money to buy this?"

"Well, technically, Thor did," shrugged the buyer boy nonchalantly and gulped down another sip while the golden haired one rolled his eyes before taking a tentative sip. Natasha let out a laugh.

"Told you we're the ones who get you into trouble, eh, soldier?" She bumped her hip against his and he smiled a small, rueful one.

"Whatever."

"Quick!" Hill suddenly cried out in a fierce and hushed tone. "Nobody move! Math slash physics teacher dead ahead." Everyone covertly turned to see Mr. Selvig, their said teacher, walk through the door and shift the textbooks looped in his arm.

Jane turned her brown eyes on everyone. "Mr. Selvig? He's cool."

"To geniuses like you, yeah. But to the rest of us, he's torture. Right, Natasha? Natasha?" She bumped her shoulder against the red haired girl's to catch her attention, since she had been staring off into the distance.

"Oh, ya, right," she mumbled against her bottle contemplatively. "I have to go. Can we meet up here tomorrow? To discuss the fundraiser?"

All the other girls nodded their heads and Steve got up from the seat next to her. "Cool. I'll hitch a ride with you."

Everyone else peeked at each other of the corner of their eyes while they left. Once they were completely across the street, Tony leaned in. "Something is definitely going on with them! I mean," he added, not caring that nobody asked for evidence, "they came in together, possibly meaning they drove here together, they were laughing and smiling and stuff, she was calling him _soldier_, and now they're hitching rides together." He sat back, as if well pleased with his argument.

Pepper nodded. "Well, yeah, they do seem to have something going on."

"'Seem'? They are!" Tony ignored the murderous look Clint was sending him from across the table, but soon, the bell pinged again and in walked someone who made Tony's eyes widen to saucer size and even Thor choke on his drink.

* * *

**A/N: Please review and go to my profile to vote on my poll or I will not update this. Thanks, -N**


	4. Gossip Girl Talk

**A/N: Thank you everyone who actually listened to me and voted on the poll. Anyway, you want some interaction, so no worries. It will be coming, I promise. In the next chapter, soon. And another pairing of mine is coming in right now. Just keep reviewing, loyal readers, and you will receive. And sorry that this chapter is a bit short, but this isn't a very long story. I don't own anything. And I demand REVIEWS or what's the point in updating, huh?**

* * *

In walked a very striking woman with long tresses of chocolate brown hair and piercing aqua blue eyes framed by prominent dark lashes. Those eyes scanned over the coffee shop and she hooked her thumbs into the loops of her tight, designer jeans against her dark strip of a leather belt. Her soft and full lips straightened into a line and Pepper rammed her elbow into Tony's ribs, who had been ogling at the girl like she was the greatest thing on Earth. But it was probably the midriff baring white T shirt the girl was wearing that attracted her dark haired boyfriend's attention. Tony pouted and nuzzled her cheek and the blonde just turned away defiantly, making all the other boys snicker under their breaths.

Meanwhile, Jane was sneering at the girl who entered so dramatically. "Great," she muttered darkly. "Here comes the queen bitch herself."

"She's not that bad, Jane," Hill frowned and Pepper nodded.

"Yeah, actually, I forgot to give her the invite."

"Why are you giving it to _her_?" the brunette complained, but was interrupted by Thor standing up.

"I will distribute the invitation to Sif, thank you," he bellowed and snatched the invitation for Natasha's birthday party out of Pepper's hands before her voice could even sound out a protest. Thor strode over to Sif confidently and both of them shot each other huge grins, which just made Jane roll her eyes and shrug in defeat. Thor may be her previous boyfriend, but why should she care that he was now giving Sif all the attention? She could have any man she wanted. Of course, her heart still yearned for Thor, but Jane was a master of self control.

Darcy, however, wasn't. "Did you see that?" she exclaimed, peering with wide dark blue eyes through her glasses and attempting to defend her best friend. "Sif just slipped her digits over to Thor. How dare she? What kind of person does she think she is?"

"Lucky bastard," grumbled Tony and Pepper this time just stepped on his foot. "Ow! Sorry, Peps."

"What were we talking about again?" asked the blonde girl coolly.

"I believe we were discussing the possibility of Steve and Natasha dating," Banner reminded meekly and Tony harrumphed with a wave of his hand and a sticking up of his nose.

"Possibility? They most certainly are dating!"

"Whose dating who?" asked a husky voice and they all turned to see Sif and Thor looming over the table, a bit too close to each other.

"Steve and Natasha," Tony told them unashamedly before anyone could stop him.

"Wasn't it obvious before?"

He pointed at her triumphantly, an overdose of joy evident in his features and the light flickering in his dark orbs. "See? She gets it!"

"You've got to admit," Hill nodded. "He's got a point."

Jane shrugged, Pepper nodded as well, while Darcy merely rolled her eyes, but grudgingly agreed. "I'm not saying anything," the black haired one shook her head. This was obviously a conversation meant for later.

* * *

That night, Hill sunk her tired and bare body into the tub filled to the top with warm water trimmed with foamy and fresh smelling bubbles. She lay a pink, cool, soft cloth against her forehead and let out a soothing sigh. Suddenly, her phone chimed and she raised a damp hand to pick up the thankfully water proof device. Thank God her mother was so sensible or she would have damaged her cell phone ages ago.

"Hello?" she asked into the receiver and Darcy's excited voice answered.

"Hey," she replied back. "Can we discuss how stupid I was for not snapping a picture of Ian dressed as a girl?"

Hill didn't even bother trying to cover up her laugh. "I know. It was too classic."

"So I headed out tonight and bough the coolest stuff." At her place, the black haired woman was sorting out a number of things that were so antique it was cool out on her leopard printed bed covers. She slipped off her glasses and pressed a button on a small device. "Two words: Bubble machine." And a dazzling sight of sphere shaped bubbles that glittered in her lamplight twirled in the air.

"No way!" The brunette girl shook her head in disbelief, tone very enthusiastic.

"Totally!" She pulled out some other things and set them up carefully. "I also got lava lamps and one of those pictures you can take selfies on with really cool colors and backgrounds. Check it out!" She snapped a picture of herself and sent it on the phone. Hill flipped it on and smiled.

"I love it," she said simply into the receiver again.

Darcy raked her long and pale fingers through her dark waves. "I'm going for that old equipment that was really hip or whatever a few years ago so that everyone will like it now for a revival." Hill nodded. "Do we need anything else?"

The brunette touched her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "I'm not sure. Let me check with Pepper." She then dialed another number into her phone so that it would make a multiples call. Pepper answered while typing at her silver lined laptop in her room, which was wrapped up in artistic patterned using shades of hot pink and black wallpapers.

"Hey, Maria," she greeted lightly and the sound of musical notes could be heard in the background. "I've got some music and tunes we have to play at the party."

"Cool. Let me listen."

"Me, too," grunted Darcy from her line, reaching over to pick up something under her bed.

"Darcy, hi! You know, we should get Jane on this. Hold on." She then dialed in the brunette's number as well and the said girl picked up her pose after untangling herself from a yoga position while wearing a facial mask.

"Hello, Peps," she addressed into the phone while fixing her tiny golden yellow tee.

"Hey there, Jane. I got Maria and Darcy too."

The two other girls said their greetings and Jane exhaled a sigh. "Wow, I was just calling out to the universe to speak to you guys and here you are."

Hill rolled her eyes. "Were you doing yoga again? That's becoming as obsessive as Darcy's crush on Ian the Intern."

"Hey, Ian's nice!" cried out Darcy's protest loudly through the phone in defense of her brown haired crush.

"I like him, Dee," said Jane and the other one nodded.

"See?"

"Well, you were the one who was green with envy about Sif when she was flirting with Thor," pointed out the blonde woman and the said woman scowled darkly at the thought on her end of the line.

"She wasn't flirting with him!" she protested and only confirmed the jealousy.

"Anyway, Jane," said the bathing brunette, trying to move off the subject. "Why did you call out to the universe for us? I'm not sure it was to hear my sultry voice again, was it?" Hill joked and all of them laughed.

"No," Jane said, and her tone grew serious as she leaned down and lied stomach down on her room's floor. "Steve and Natasha. Am I the only one who actually thinks that there is something _really_ going on between them?"

"No, I was thinking the exact same thing," Darcy agreed. "Maybe Stark is right about them. But then again, he only suggested the idea so he can spread it around with the yearning gossips around school."

"But Maria and I too thought about it," Pepper consented, switching off the music. "Did you notice how strange they were acting when they got to the rehearsal? Late, as well?"

"And Steve and Natasha _never_ get late if there wasn't an _important_ reason," confirmed the yoga brunette.

"Oh my God!" Hill exclaimed in shock, jolting up to an almost sitting position, a hand clasped over her mouth. "You don't think they're finally going out, do you?"

"Nah," Pepper shrugged, although her tone was not completely sure. "I mean, they've been flirting on each other forever, but-"

"Not to mention crushing on each other big time," pointed out Darcy, lying down on her back on her bedspread.

"Do you think she asked him out first or was it he who asked her?" asked Jane in deep meditation.

While the other women on the phone voiced their thoughts, Hill cleared her throat. "This is crazy. Let's just call her in and see what's going on."

"Okay," agreed the blonde, but then held her hands up. "But guys, let's play it cool," she warned, mentally pointing it out to the dark haired, glasses wearing girl. "We'll just ask if we can go shopping for the fundraiser tomorrow with the boys and see if she ever tells us about Steve, okay?"

"Yeah, but what if she doesn't? You know Natasha, Pep," said the younger brunette, scratching the patch of skin under her blue facial mask. "She's the master at keeping secrets. Unlike some people, hmm, Darcy?"

"It's funny how we are all so alike yet soo different, am I right?" ended Darcy with a nervous titter.

"Don't press it. Just very lightly prod or-"

Darcy interrupted her. "Or we could tell her to her face. We're already trying to hide a surprise party. I do not need so many secrets, 'cause it's all going to explode out of my mouth and blow out of proportion, guys!"

"Yes, Dee, because this is all about you," rolled Hill's eyes around in her sockets. "But she's got a point. I can't wait for the party to happen so that we can get all these secrets off our back."

"Exactly my point." Pepper huffed out an exasperated breath.

"Let's just call her already," Darcy urged impatiently.

"Deal." Pepper did so and after three rings, the familiar red haired girl's voice answered the phone in the safety of her pale teal wallpapered bedroom. "Hello?"

"Hey, Natasha, it's us," the blonde addressed and everyone said their his and hellos.

"Oh, hey, girls!" Her voice was bit too chipper and raised to an octave to be Natasha's, and every girl's eyes narrowed at this. "What's going on?"

"We just wanted to see if you wanted to come with us for costume shopping tomorrow at the mall with us and the rest of the boys, " invited Pepper, and everything was now running smoothly.

Until Darcy's big mouth got in the way. "And then we wanted to see if you were going to tell us that you are going out with Steve!" she blurted out the quick and impulsive burst of a response before clapping a hand to her mouth too late, betraying the group and the girls sighed out their disappointment and defeat. Hill made a huge face palm with her damp hand, Pepper rolled her pale blue eyes and Jane just let her face fall into her hands with a deep grumble emerging from her throat. But the girls' sorrows were barged in on by the sound of another familiar voice.

"Okay, I'm back!" Steve called out to Natasha, who whirled around with her verdigris eyes wide in astonishment and shaking her head imperceptibly. The golden haired man carefully laid down the bag of food down on her desk and glanced at her with an inquiring raise of his eyebrows.

"Is that Steve?" Jane slowly started, peeling off her facial mask.

"No way!" Darcy shook her head in blissful disbelief with a merry chuckle.

"You are going out with him!" Hill gushed excitedly.

"It's okay, Natasha. We're fine with it. I mean, you didn't have to keep it a secret," Pepper assured and the girl on the last end of the line was very quiet and still, knowing that everyone on the phone was waiting for her to confirm it. Suddenly, the stupidest idea popped into her head, but she just accepted it. She sighed out a breath and tucked back a loose strand of straight vermilion hair behind her ear.

"You're right," she nodded slowly. "Steve and I are secretly going out."

Steve leaned in at this, earnest blue eyes gaping with astonishment and his mouth was open to speak out, but Natasha just placed her small and dainty hand over his mouth. "But obviously, it's not so secret anymore since you all know."

"I knew it!" said Darcy in success and the others had similar reactions.

"So, come on now," demanded the brunette, who was now wrapping a soft towel around her lean body. "We need details."

"You'll get them, I promise, but Steve's over here right now and-"

"Riiiiight," drawled out Darcy in a mischievous tone and a wicked smile and everyone except Jane, who only had a graceful, polite and happy little smile on her lips, shared the same grins. "We get it. See you tomorrow."

Everyone then clicked off, and Natasha stared down at her phone with deep blue green orbs boring down into the small device in her hands. Oh, what she had just done?


	5. Kiss The Girl

**A/N: It's not what it seems. You'll see. But now here comes the 'interaction' I was talking about, so please tell me what you thought of this chapter once you're done. Again, don't own anything.**

* * *

While Natasha grumbled at herself and threw her cell phone back at the spot it had been just five minutes ago, Steve gazed at her with bewildered blue orbs. "I'm sorry," he asked as slowly and carefully as possible, knowing he needed to tread water around the redhead's mood. "We're secretly going out?"

"Well, what was I supposed to say?" she snapped at him in a brusque tone, leaning back in her chair and waving her hands around. "That you were tutoring me in math and physics classes?"

"I _am _tutoring you in math and physics classes," the boy chuckled nervously, gesturing with his two hands at the several textbooks, notebooks and writing and plastic utensils cluttering up her large desk.

"Yeah, well, I don't want anyone else to know that," she replied stubbornly.

Steve then grabbed the smoothie cup he had picked up at the diner near her house and sucked up the fruity beverage through the red straw meditatively. "I don't get it," he shrugged. "I may be one of the highest in the class, but Jane's got higher grades than me. Why don't you tell her you need help in your struggling grades?" He meant this in all politeness. He really liked Natasha and enjoyed spending time with her, even if it was to do something very boring like studying, but he wondered why she hadn't asked the smart brunette before him.

"Because I'm not just doing badly in those classes." The girl then trained her aqua eyes on the floor, face ashamed and her fiery mane now hanging around her face like a curtain and Steve pushed down the urge to brush her hair away to look at her beautiful face.

"Mm hmm," he prodded gently, gesturing to go on in a blissfully oblivious tone. Natasha continued,

"I'm failing." Before Steve's face could even register surprise, she looked back up at him and felt her stomach tighten a little. "If I don't get at least a B on the next two tests, I'll have an F for the whole semester, tarnishing my records, throwing out good colleges and my _mom_," she hesitated before saying the last word and continued again, "will pretty much ground me for the rest of my life and I can't deal with my dad-" She had been rambling, something she never did unless she was getting really emotional, which was rare in itself, but she realized what she was doing and clamped her mouth shut again.

Steve, however, wasn't stupid obviously and caught the almost slip up and leaned in. "Your dad will do what?" He had met her father at least once and didn't know how they were related at all. He was cold, calculating and huge. And a businessman who was rarely home at any time in the year and didn't see Natasha and her mother very often. Her mother, however, seemed cool enough, with dark auburn hair and pale sky blue eyes and a kind smile.

"Nothing."

"Nat-"

"It's none of your business anyway. Besides, what's the point of math and physics?"

He knew the redhead was only trying to get off the subject, but he let her because he was that understanding. "It helps in daily life. Speaking of help, you can always call the girls and-"

"No." Her voice was flat and final. "They're all doing great in math and have better things to do. Pepper has Tony to take care of, who is more her little kid than her boyfriend, Hill's organizing the fundraiser along with Clint and Phil and the other boys, Darcy's sort of avoiding me because of Ian the Intern and I don't want Jane around."

"Because?"

Natasha hesitated and then quickly told him, "She just broke up with Thor and that Sif girl's on her nerves obviously and I don't need her sulking around here."

"Come on, Natasha."

"And plus, it would be mortifying to reveal that I have been getting Fs in these subjects. I feel like everybody in the world gets this stuff but me." She then grabbed a textbook, slammed it closed and threw it in the other direction to prove her point. "I swear, if they found out, my life would feel even more ruined."

"Even more?"

"Rogers, stop asking questions, will you?" She glared at him so sharply that he flinched back a little. She then sighed and her voice softened. "I'm sorry, but can you promise not to breath a word? Please?"

Her eyes were so big and full of earnest feelings that all he could do was nod and say, "Yeah, okay, I promise. But can you give a brief explanation why? You can't just have your grades drop out of nowhere. Something's going on, isn't it?"

"Look, right now, yes, my life is really messed up and I can't really concentrate, but I'm trying, okay? And I asked you because I know I can trust you. You're the only thing that actually fells right and real in my life."

"Really?"

"You always will."

Steve couldn't help but let a grin take over his mouth and he reached down a hand to lace their fingers together and squeezed them. They both felt jolt of electricity zing through their bones and pleasure and content soared through their hearts. They were always just that close.

Natasha still stared down at their interlocked hands and then -although quite reluctantly, her heart felt- she pulled away. "I'm glad that's settled then."

"So what, does this mean we're going out?" Steve asked, once again quelling down a flash of excitement.

"_Fake_ going out," she pointed out with a tiny smile. "We just have to make it look good and convincing."

"So," he started with a huge and teasingly playful grin as he leaned in close to her face. "Do we get to kiss?"

Natasha shoved him away from her with a mirthful laugh. "Ha! Not that good." She mournfully stared at her notebook and handed it back to Steve, who accepted it.

"Start quizzing me."

* * *

After a week of whispers of Steve and Natasha's 'relationship' around hallways and continuous situations of Loki still not taking a clue and stalking Natasha and ferociously flirting with her that the redhead was trying to disguise herself whenever she went out, it was thankfully the weekend and mostly everyone was gathered at Hill's loft, boxes of multicolored streamers, glittery things and the like spilling out of them surrounding the teens who were decorating the place.

"So Steve and Natasha are going out?" Ian asked, not exactly up to date with the newest gossip.

"Like you haven't seen their off the charts chemistry and their obvious crushing on one another," commented Darcy, who was sitting on his shoulders while trying to hang up a decoration under the staircase.

"No, not really."

Darcy reached down to ruffle his tan locks with a giggle escaping her lips. "You are such a guy!"

"Steve even backed out of decorating so he can hang out with Natasha," pointed out Sam as he and Jane wrapped pink ribbons to contrast against the black bars under the stairs' railing.

"Oh, man, that is weak!" Tony, who was standing next to Ian with him and his girlfriend in a similar position, pouted like a small child. "You don't see me backing out of something to spend time with my girl, do you?"

Pepper then leaned down, her face upside down and her long reddish golden hair spilling around his face like a curtain. "Uh, duh!" she answered, taking a piece of tape of his finger. "That's because I'm decorating too."

"But was I right or was I right?" Tony boasted, repeating the line he had used all week. "They were going out. Told you so!"

"I believed you the whole time," whispered Pepper as she leaned down to peck an upside down kiss on his lips. They were interrupted by Darcy's exclamation of "Oh, my poor eyes!"

"Shut up, Daisy," the dark haired one grumbled when the blonde pulled away. "But I can't wait to see Rogers today. He has avoided me all week and I'm going to pounce on him when I find him."

"That sounds so wrong," joked Darcy and she and Ian giggled while Tony glared at them.

"Not like that! He has refused to give me any details about Natasha and has been hiding himself, but I'll find him, I assure you."

"I'll definitely help you with that," Sam nodded, who had also been excluded by Steve, since that teen was smart enough to hide away from his nosy best friends.

"Guys, it's almost time," Jane reminded the girls, checking her watch. She then pinned a stare at Darcy. "Darcy, seriously, you can't reveal anything about the party to Natasha or we're all toast."

"I know and I'm trying, really," she said, dangling from the stairs without Ian's assistance before plopping back down on the ground on her two feet. "But every time I open my mouth, I feel like it's going to slip out."

Ian shrugged care freely. "So, don't open your mouth," he instructed simply.

"What, at all?"

"That's ridiculous," Pepper said. "She just can't not talk to Natasha."

"Why not? Ian is right," Darcy said, her blue eyes sparkling. "I'm going to try it."

* * *

A few hours later, the teens had agreed to meet Natasha and Steve there at the mall and those tow were currently in an electronics store, Natasha tapping away at the keyboard while playing Minesweeper with the mouse on a glowing Apple laptop. Steve stood next to her, fiddling with the glasses perched on his nose. The redhead looked up briefly to see the glasses.

"Seriously, Rogers?" she laughed.

"What?" Steve looked over his shoulder again and checked his watch. "You can never be sure. Do you know Tony's actually hunting me down?"

"Wonder why. But the glasses are too much if you have a baseball cap on too."

"Says who?" Steve then argued in a nasal nerdy voice and Natasha couldn't help but laugh again. Only Steve could make her laugh when she was down.

"Anything I can help you with?" the employee with long bleach blond hair asked, who happened to be a man.

"No, thanks," said the sandy haired boy. The employee's mouth suddenly gaped open wide with a gasp and Steve stared at him like he was having a seizure, until the employee said, "I have the exact same glasses."

"Wow, you're practically twins," quipped the redhead sarcastically, not looking up from the screen.

"Oh, I wish." The employee gestured to Steve's whole body. "Specimen. And if you need anything else, I've been Aaron," he introduced, showing his I.D. And he walked off, leaving Steve with a confused look. Natasha just had to chuckle again.

Once they left the store, Steve decided now was the time. "Are you going to tell me now what's going on with your grades and stuff?" he asked, looking at her sideways.

"Quick, laugh at something I said," she ordered, probably not even hearing him.

"Huh?"

"Put your arm around me," she hissed again, shoving her hood higher up her head and her eyes pointed to a bunch of Tesseract Academy students walking past them, who he had also seen with Loki. Steve did what was told and they passed by peacefully.

Natasha then walked faster so she was a couple of inches ahead, but she slowed back down and said without making eye contact, "I'm adopted."

"What?" Steve gasped softly.

"Yeah, I know. My mother looks a lot like me, so I was fooled too, but then I found the papers in an old desk downstairs." She paused. "I was born in Europe." She said it like that explained everything.

"So? Come on, Nat, if you trust me, you know I won't tell anyone."

Natasha now stared at him, and looked very hesitant and Steve added, "If you don't want to, you don't have-"

She shook her head. "No, you're right." They paused for a moment and she let down a short version, "I was born in Russia. My name was Natalia Alianovna Romanova. I didn't have any other siblings. And there was a lot of war going on in the place where I was born. I don't know why or what happened, but it does explain why I have had dreams of when I was a little girl. Apparently, I was an infant when I was immigrated to New York."

Steve nodded. "And your parents?"

The red haired female began walking again and Steve had to run to catch up. "They're, uh . . ." she said, the slightest tremor reaching her voice. "They're dead. They died in the fire that burned down our house. The report said my chauffeur rescued me."

"I'm sorry," he whispered and grabbed at her hand again. She looked back at him with a tight smile.

"It's okay. I found a picture in the file too." She pulled out a piece of paper that showed two adults holding up a sleeping baby. In the picture, Steve could noticed the same soft lips of Natasha's on her mother and prominent arched eyebrows on the father.

"Wow."

"Yeah. So now you know." But Steve had a slight feeling there was more to Natasha's reasons for slipping up in her grades than just that. They were now heading for the escalator and he asked, "How did your parents take it when you found out?"

Natasha just shrugged vaguely as they stepped onto the escalator going downwards. All was quiet for a second before the teens heard someone shout, "Hey, get back here!"

They both looked down to see their friends, Tony and Sam chasing after a black clothing clad figure. Loki. Loki had just stepped onto the upwards escalator and Tony and Sam were soon following. It was only a matter of time before the surprised teenagers were toast.

"Oh no," Natasha whispered. "It's Loki." If he saw her, she was doomed to be followed for the rest of the day and that was a curse in itself and the reason she went to the mall, thinking Loki would never come here.

"And Tony," grumbled Steve from behind her in anguish. Tony was going to ask him all the very personal questions about Natasha where there was no escape and he couldn't exactly lie to Tony since he'll just prod and prod and prod. "What are we going to do?"

_We need to hide,_ though Natasha and maybe it was because of her huge crush on Steve or self preservation or some desire deep inside of her entirely, but she voiced out the only idea she had. She whirled around and stared Steve straight in his navy eyes, dead serious. "Kiss me," she murmured.

That was obviously not what the golden haired boy expected. With his eyes wide to saucer size, he demanded, "What?"

"We are technically dating," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but-"

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," Natasha added in a serious tone.

Steve nodded. "Yes, they do."

But even before he finished his sentence, she had slid her hand around his neck in a swift motion and pulled him forward, their lips crashing together. She brushed her thumb gently against his high cheekbone, feeling the soft skin scrape against her fingertip. Steve was stiff at first, but quickly relaxed into the kiss, tilting his head forward and leaning in and slowly yet gingerly ran a hand down her side, making her covered skin shiver with goosebumps to cup it very gently around her hip. Steve was definitely a _great_ kisser, she had to note while her hood slipped off her hair. The redhead slowly peeled open an eye and saw Tony, Sam and Loki running back up the escalator, heads turned away and they soon disappeared on the next upper floor. Natasha's unceremonious plan had worked; the three boys hadn't even bothered to look over at a making out couple and therefore didn't see her or Steve. But Natasha found her lips still locked with Steve's, heart audibly thundering in her chest, cheeks flaming with heat, relishing the sweetness of the kiss, the passion so tender . . .

But Natasha quite reluctantly pulled away, although now her pounding heart was screaming at her not to, and met Steve's eyes, which were still wide, but this time with wonder and amazement. Natasha shoved down the blush moving to her cheeks.

"That was . . ." she exhaled her breath and trailed off.

"Fantastic," he finished in a breathless voice and Natasha's heart quickened again. Steve realized what he said and added, "The plan. How you came up with that plan and . . . stuff."

"Mm hmm," she said and turned around. "You still uncomfortable?"

"Well, that isn't exactly the word I would use for it."

Natasha then thought wryly, _Obviously. Damn it, Natasha, why the hell do you do this to yourself?_


	6. Darcy's Secret Crush on Steve?

**A/N: Man, was the last chapter fun or what? Italics mean flashback. Don't own anything and pretty please review, loyal readers!**

* * *

Natasha soon found the girls huddled around a bench, the buzzing of teenagers talking ringing her ears and making her head swim. That wasn't the only thing making her feel dizzy. The memory of Steve kissing her still made her lips tingle with excitement. Pepper looked up and giddily waved.

"Hey, Mrs. Rogers!" Hill winked playfully and Natasha fake winced.

"Jesus, we are not that serious, guys," she mumbled, looking away from them.

"Whoa, what's with the red lips?" said an upcoming voice and everyone turned to see Sif sauntering up to them confidently, her dark purple jacket flapping away in the air conditioning breeze. Natasha heard Jane grumble, but stayed composed. "I invited her," calmed Pepper, but the brunette just shrugged nonchalantly. Jane was now seeming to be okay with Sif hanging out with Thor.

Hill, however, looked closer to Natasha's face. A wicked grin crossed her lips. "Oh, _now_ I know why you're late," she murmured mischievously, and everyone began to giggle. The reminder just made the red haired female's lips burn with longing, but she kept her icy cool demeanor.

"Cut the chit chat and let's find some outfits already," she snapped and everyone hushed down to quiet titters.

Sif still grinned and gestured towards one of the corners of the mall with bunches of stalls selling great costume jewelry. "You ladies ready for some combat?" she challenged and hooked an arm through Natasha's, who hooked her other one with Hill's.

Darcy's dark blue eyes lit up instantly. "Born ready."

"Let's do it!" Pepper cheered and she pushed the wide glass door open for the girls to step through.

* * *

Something was up with Darcy.

Natasha had noticed it when they first started shopping that day. When she, Jane and Darcy stood and leaned over to examine different kinds of make up features, the redhead had grabbed a sample and a brush and swept light turquoise eyeshadow that glittered in the lights on her eyelids. It wasn't really her style, but it would look great with her outfit and complimented her peaches and cream skin tone and fiery hair. But when she turned around to show it, Jane nodded her head vigorously with an encouraging twinkle in her dark eyes, but Darcy just made a face while shrugging and walked away to find her own make up.

While Pepper flipped on a pale lavender hat that looked suspiciously like a lamp shade, Natasha pulled on a black cap with a circular belt buckle enclosed around it and checked it out in the mirror. When she noticed Darcy out of the corner of her eye, the black haired girl immediately turned away to find her own hat.

Then, when Pepper and Hill were giggling at their feet since they had first cried out in shock at one another because they were both sporting the same cute red and white sneaker chunky heeled shoes complete with tiny white bows at the end, Jane was applying dark pink lip gloss to her lips and Sif was trying out sparkly apple red nail polish, the redhead twirled around in stylish tan heels that made a translucent checked pattern around her whole foot. Darcy had noticed, but ignored her anyway. This was when Natasha's confusion was melting into hurt and frustration at her enigmatic behavior.

At the accessories stand, Hill had instantly threw around the great clips and pins around in joy, Sif fastened some of her dark locks in a glimmering bottle green and golden butterfly clip, Pepper slipped on single gold bands on each of her fingers and Natasha even placed on a apricot colored flower clip on top of her ear to push back her bangs and when she showed Hill, she nodded approvingly with an arch of her eyebrows, but the black haired woman behind just spun back around and walked off.

While Natasha stared at her walking away, she felt a bump against the side of her head and turned to see a dark green scrunchie lying on the ground. She looked up to see Sif and Hill gesturing to the dressing rooms, where piles of clothes lay in their arms.

Inside the stalls, all of the girls filled up one stall with their own outfits, except for Jane, who was doing backstage things for the fundraiser, so she just leaned back against the wall, watching the closed doors.

"Okay, Natasha," Pepper started. "It's time to talk."

"About what?" the redhead answered obliviously.

"Hello?" Sif called out. "You and Steve?"

The blonde grabbed a long red jacket trimmed with pink fur that gave a rock star feel to the person wearing it and slipped it on over her black camisole. "Start from the beginning. When did he finally ask you out?" She looked at herself in the mirror and shrugged off the coat and threw it over the stall wall to Natasha. "Try this. I like it, but it doesn't really work for me."

"Finally," Natasha exhaled, gratefully accepting the jacket and trying it on. "What makes you think he asked me out?"

Hill climbed up to peek into her stall. "Oh, please, you guys have been crushing on each other since forever." Noticing the jacket, she commented, "Ooh, nice jacket." Natasha took it off.

"Try it," she said, handing it to her and the brunette disappeared behind her stall again.

"As for you and Steve, you guys are absolutely made for each other," gushed Pepper. She was the one who always supported people in their love lives and gave the right advice, despite her boyfriend being a playboy.

"I still don't get why you didn't tell us," said Jane from outside.

"Um, well, I don't know . . ." For once, Natasha didn't know what to say or how to cover something like this, but Hill unknowingly saved her.

"Did you do it because we're all friends?"

"Yeah, totally," the red haired girl answered immediately, slipping on a pale lemon blouse with no sleeves and hung loosely around the shoulders. She pulled her long fiery hair out from behind the collar. "I thought it would be weird since we're all friends and everything."

"Really?" Pepper asked, pulling down the hem of her black camisole self consciously. "But Tony and I are going out and that's not weird, right?"

"No, of course not," Natasha said back. She was one of the only ones who could tolerate Tony for so long. "But still, I don't recommend your choice."

"Yeah, he's self centered and doesn't play with others, not to mention he has the biggest nose, both literally and figuratively," complained Darcy from the farthest stall. It was the first thing she said since she came to the mall. "Hey, I'm going back to grab another shirt. Does anybody else need anything?"

Everyone peeked out and saw she was wearing the red jacket they had been passing around. She looked great in it and they all expressed their approvals. Natasha, seeing her chance, pulled out the lemon blouse on its hangar. "Yeah. Could you get this in the next size up?"

Darcy transformed back into silence mode and silently took the shirt and walked around the corner, out of sight. Natasha had had enough. "You guys, is she mad at me or something?" she demanded, jutting a thumb towards where Darcy had disappeared. Everyone exchanged worried glances.

"What makes you say that?" Pepper asked, pale blue eyes wide.

"It's just that she hasn't said a thing to me all day." She glanced at all of the girls' expressions, growing very suspicious. "Is there something I don't know about?"

"It's just because-" Pepper was saying before Jane interrupted.

"Oh, save it, Peps! She's jealous of you and Steve," she explained quickly.

Natasha hadn't been expecting that, and flinched back in surprise. "What?" she questioned, eyes wide.

"She has had this huge secret crush on Steve, even before Ian showed up, and she's still not over him," Jane continued, looking sympathetic. "And now she's heartbroken and can't stand that you two are together."

The redhead blinked again. "No way. Really?"

"Oh, yeah. She's jealous." Sif smiled at their quick save again.

Hill nodded. "She, like, worshipped him before Ian showed up and she took her chance, but you can't get over Steve just like that, can you, Natasha?"

"Mm hmm. She's totally jealous," agreed Pepper just as Darcy walked back in.

"What's up?" she inquired, looking between the girls, having detected their secretive whispering. Hill stepped forward.

"Natasha wanted to know why you weren't speaking to her," she stuttered at first, but laid a hand on the black haired girl's shoulder, "so Jane had to spill the secret."

Darcy's face looked lit up and relieved when she stared at Natasha. "Really? So you know about the surprise-"

Before she could finish her sentence and ruin the true secret, Pepper quickly slid in. "The surprise of your secret crush on Steve," she said loudly over her words, giving her a pointed stare. "Yeah."

The black haired woman let out a flustered laugh, having no idea what they were talking about. "What? I don't have a . . ." she exclaimed, but trailed off when she saw everyone behind the redhead's back glaring at her sharply, forcing her to go along with it. She gave a tight smile at Natasha, trying to look displeased. "Right. My secret crush on Steve."

* * *

"My secret crush on Steve?" Darcy snapped incredulously at all of the other girls the next day, looking wildly between them with bewildered dark blue orbs. Natasha wasn't there at The Dish with them luckily, but Darcy was still furious at the others for creating a hoax with her involved.

"How else was I supposed to explain why you weren't speaking to Natasha?" demanded Jane right back.

"I don't know. I had laryngitis. I'm studying to be a mime. Anything, Jane!" She was making crazy and exaggerated hand gestures when Steve suddenly showed up behind their bench.

"Hey," he greeted formally, but couldn't help but avoid Darcy's eyes. She laughed out a bitter one.

"Let me guess. You talked to Natasha?"

"Maybe," the golden haired man answered uncomfortably.

* * *

_"Since when did you get a driver's license?" questioned the red haired female next to Steve in the passenger's seat as they drove down the highway, flashes of green and white gold zipping past the windows._

_"Got it a couple of weeks ago," he informed and stared at Natasha sternly, or rather, at her feet, which were draped across the dashboard casually. "And this is my parents' car, so please get your feet off the dashboard."_

_Natasha hesitated, but slowly pulled her feet back on the floor of the Mercedes car. She then leaned back into her seat, her cheek pressing into the warm leather as she gazed at Steve. He noticed her staring and nervously laughed._

_"What?"_

_"Nothing," she shrugged and looked back out of the windshield._

_"Seriously, Nat. What are you thinking about?"_

_"I was just wondering how I never noticed it before."_

_"Noticed what?" He raised a fair eyebrow._

_"How wonderful you are," she murmured in a dreamy, absentminded voice._

_Steve almost slipped on the brake. "E-excuse me?"_

_Natasha instantly buried her slip up. "I mean, obviously, I can't have you all to myself."_

_"Natasha, what are you implying?"_

_"Today I learned that Darcy has a secret crush on you."_

_Now Steve did hit the brake since they were stopping at a red traffic light. He shrugged, at first unaware of what she truly had said. "Oh, that's nice and all- Wait, what?!"_

_She laughed. "She's totally jealous of us dating because she apparently used to worship you before Ian and I came along into your lives."_

_"Really? I had no clue." He was blushing furiously, not used to all the attention he was getting nowadays. It made the redhead giggle again. He was so cute. But something else was nagging her at the back of her mind._

_"Hey, can I ask you a question?"_

_"Yeah, sure, anything."_

_"Okay, but just know that you definitely do not have to answer it. Although if you don't, it'll kind of be like you're answering it-"_

_"Just ask, Nat."_

_"Was that your first kiss?" she finally admitted, the faintest hint of a smile crossing her perfect pink Cupid's bow mouth._

_Steve was at first silent, but managed a peep at her from the corner of his eye and he looked anxious. "That bad, huh?"_

_"It was most certainly not bad," she replied, shaking her head. "I was just wondering if you've had any practice lately."_

_"No one needs practice."_

_"Everybody needs practice, soldier," countered the fiery haired female._

_"Okay, it was not my first kiss," he said quickly and Natasha couldn't sense if he was lying or not, but he was avoiding her eyes, so that would be a direct sign. "I'm almost eighteen years old. I'm not dead yet."_

_"Hope not. I don't know what I'd do without you, soldier."_

* * *

"I do not have some secret crush on you," giggled Darcy, slapping his arm lightly. "I was only not speaking to Natasha so I wouldn't spill about the party."

"Besides, why would you care, Steve?" Hill asked, looking at him slyly. "You have a girlfriend."

"I do?" he asked, momentarily forgetting his and Natasha's deceptive masquerade.

"Hello? Natasha?" Pepper reminded and all of the women around the table were searching the sandy haired boy's face with wide and bewildered eyes. He remembered and chuckled.

"Right, Natasha, my girlfriend," he nodded vigorously. "Hey, you haven't seen her, have you?"

That was when the bell at the door chimed cheerfully and two teenagers walked in. It was Natasha carrying a few packages with Clint, the two deep in coneversation. Clint had a huge grin on his face and Natasha was laughing and punching him playfully on the arm.

"Hmm, they look cozy," Darcy commented, inspecting the two. Steve felt a wave of genuine jealousy crash inside him and straightened his spine.

"Excuse me," he said coolly and stalked over to the conversing teenagers. Natasha noticed him and she shot him a look when he sidled up close to her.

"Oh, Clint," she interrupted. "You obviously know Steve."

"Yeah, hey," Clint grunted with a bored nod and Steve did the same. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know," Steve shrugged, laying his hands on Natasha's shoulders and massaging them. "Just helping _my girl_ with her packages." He quickly pecked her on the cheek as he picked up the fallen bag on the floor.

Clint's rainwater gray blue eyes were wide with surprise and mild anger and jealousy kindled inside them like a tiny spark of a flame. "Your girl?" he retorted. "Oh, sorry. My bad. See you around, Tasha." He walked off.

"See ya," said Natasha and Steve waggled his fingers in a wave after him. Natasha then suddenly shoved him away from her, fury present in her verdigris orbs. "What are you _doing_?"

"Being your boyfriend," he explained innocently. "I thought that was what you wanted."

"Not when I'm flirting with another guy!" she protested, shaking her red mane of hair around.

"Things do not look good," said Hill as everyone observed the fight going on.

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let my girlfriend flirt with another guy?" Steve inquired, looking hurt. "Besides, what do you see in him? He's your ex."

"He was cute." She crossed her arms at her vague answer. "And why do you care?"

"I don't."

"Then quit trying to smother me!" Natasha said, throwing her hands up. And with that dramatic gesture, the loose sleeve of her jacket slipped down her arm, exposing the pale skin and something else that caught Steve's eye. They widened with alarm.

"Wait," he said, reaching for her arm, but Natasha snatched it back, knowing that he saw and was now afraid inside.

"Nothing."

"Natasha, that is definitely not-"

"Just fuck off, Rogers," seethed the redhead and she turned on her heel and stormed out of the cafe, the door slamming shut on a hurt and angry Steve.


	7. Bruises

**A/N: Kudos to readers who guessed the problem right. Sorry for shortness of chapter. :P Don't own anything.**

* * *

Natasha had been avoiding Steve all week. Every time they spotted each other in the hallways of school, she immediately turned away with a dark scowl shadowing her pretty face and melted into the sea of unrecognizable teenager students. When they inevitably had to hang out with the others, who didn't a suspect a damn thing, they sat on opposite ends of the table, Steve sneaking glances just to see Natasha's red head still shunned away from him, her eyes staring pointedly out the window. She had even stopped studying with him and started to pay attention in class a little too well, ignoring all the fun she used to enjoy.

All because he saw and wanted to be protective. Damn him.

And the others were noticing it too. Everyone was beginning to whisper around about Natasha and Steve being cold and closed off on each other and even Tony didn't annoy him like he used to. It was becoming unnatural.

The golden haired boy had had enough. He finally managed to lift his hand up into his locker to scribble down a quick note on a scrap piece of paper to the redhead and jam it into one of the subtle cracks around the vending machine. He looked at the tiny corner peeking out of the crack wistfully, despite knowing that Natasha wasn't going to answer it, before turning on his heel to rush on over to class.

At the end of school the next day, Steve was walking back from Physical Education class, his dark black hood concealing his pale face and hands shoved deep into his pockets with a brooding hunch of his shoulders. The hallway was eerily empty since everyone else was in the assembly for some occasion he so didn't care about. The fluorescent lights hummed and flickered for a moment before becoming bright again, hurting the boy's eyes. He was heading for his locker when he froze dead in his tracks.

Stepping back a few steps, he saw his reflection's eyes widen in almost horror. The crack near the pink bubblegum packets and where he stored the note was empty. The peeping out strip of paper had vanished into thin air. Before he could recollect his wits, Steve heard a snapping and popping sound. Looking up back at the glass in front of him, an all too familiar reflection stared back at him flatly yet coldly. He spun around.

Natasha Romanoff stared back at him, wearing a dark green jacket, a dullness in her blue green orbs and a bored expression on her face. She released her crossed arms to hang by her sides and still looked up at him expectantly. Before her lips could form a definite sarcastic retort about how this was wasting her time - and he knew she would say that because he goddamn knew her so well -, Steve gripped the upper part of one of her arms and dragged her into a vacant room next to the vending machine, slamming the door shut quietly so no one would hear them.

The redhead had no idea why she even bothered coming in response to that letter. She couldn't bear looking at Steve since he saw that day. It wasn't usually hard to hide, but surrounding yourself who knows you so well and seems to care about you, not to mention someone who made a living at paying close attention to things. Steve was a first class control freak, after all, but she never expected him to find out and not bother.

Speaking about herself, she was not surprised easily. But Steve completely caught her off guard by whirling around, seizing a full and tight grip with his hand on either arm and forcing her back flat against the wall, blue eyes flashing with anger. For once, Natasha was rendered speechless, breathing hard through her mouth.

"What was that?" he demanded, his face close to hers. She cocked her head a little to the side with another tight smile.

"What was what?" she asked back in a sickly sweet tone, desperately hoping inside she could still get out of this with a bloodbath, but also she hated arguing with Steve. It felt wrong and she felt sick to her stomach all week for shunning him.

"Stop lying!" he seethed at her and she met his glower unflinchingly.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," she halfheartedly joked, but the sandy haired man just shot her a very sharp and stern look to match a blade's, slipped his hand down her arm and tugged up the sleeve wide and the side of her collar too, to show the evidence. A large, blue black spot was marring the pale skin on her shoulder blade and another one that was pink and looked suspiciously in the shape of thick fingers encircled her wrist. Not mention one on the side of her neck, on her calf . . . Her face grew solemn and her eyes swelled with shame as she turned her face away.

"How did you get that?" he asked, voice quiet and cold.

"At training class," she muttered, but Steve didn't believe her for a second. She turned quiet and Steve began to realize.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me, Nat?" he whispered softly, the anger melting into compassion. He caught a glimpse of her face and alarms now clanged loudly inside his head. "Damn it. Is this what you were talking about? Because of your dad?" It reminded him of the time when Natasha's foster father suddenly barged into the room, his beefy face flaming red, shouting that if she broke curfew, he would break her neck. Natasha had sprinted after him and Steve could only hear heated and muffled protests. Then there was a clattering sound of metal, like pots and pans falling.

Natasha had entered the room again and slammed the door. Sitting down on the bed, Steve had seen that her pale cheeks were streaked with dry tears and eyes puffy and pinkish. But she had shrugged, saying it was nothing and knowing that Natasha would punch him if he pried, he kept his mouth shut.

The redhead now lifted a hand to push back her hair and it was trembling. She stayed silent for a few more minutes before nodding.

"You have to tell someone about this, Natasha," he insisted, taking her hands. Her lips were pursed together so tightly they looked translucent. "What he is doing to you is wrong. And dangerous. And downright illegal."

"Oh, please, Rogers," she scoffed, voice cracking. "He'll just twist it around somehow to make it my fault and my mom'll probably side with him because she's just that afraid of him." This also explained why she was always fighting to be perfect nowadays. "He only did it because I found out about the adoption. I deserved it anyway."

"Deserved it?" repeated he incredulously. "Natasha, do not believe that. No one deserves that to themselves."

"You think I don't know that?" she replied. "I'm just waiting another few months until my birthday arrives, then I'll be eighteen and free to leave the house." She nodded as if that was the greatest plan in the world.

"Natasha, this is not normal," Steve said very forcefully, gripping her arms just a little bit tighter.

She let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, wo cares about normal, Steve? This only happens because I'm not perfect and I keep screwing things up."

"No, you don't. Please promise me that you will tell at least one other person about this. Please?" He was looking at her so intensely that all she could do was stare down at her hands and mumble out a, "Maybe."

"No 'maybe'."

"Yes, Steve, I promise."

"Good, and from now on, you will be staying at my house."

Natasha's eyes bulged and she barely managed to splutter out, "What?!"

"You're most welcome," he nodded.

"I do not-"

"No buts. You know I don't take 'no' for an answer." He was staring at her seriously and all Natasha could do was sigh out a reluctant "Okay."

"So let's go and hit the books."

"Uh, speaking of that, I've got a lot to do for the fundraiser show and everything, so maybe we can skip a couple of days," suggested Natasha nervously.

"Really? I mean, that's fine, but you've only got a couple of days before the test on Friday. Maybe you're trying to fit too much in."

"I'm not!" she protested, playing with her hair. "I just have to design the costumes, get all the measurements of the girls, get the fabric, sew it all together, have it all ready by Saturday and still have time to learn my worst subject in the world by Friday's test." Her fake cheerful attitude instantly faded by the end.

"Nat?"

"Give me some time. I need to go talk to the girls."

* * *

"Hey, guys," greeted Natasha solemnly as she walked over to the table where her best friends were sitting. Hill grabbed a piece of stray fabric from her bag.

"Oh, I need a whole wardrobe made out of this!" she exclaimed. "I love it."

"Guys," said Natasha.

"Yeah, those are really cute," agreed Darcy excitedly.

"We should have a sleep over right before the show. We can stay up and make last minute fitting and adjustments," said Pepper.

"And we can use the pets," nodded Jane. "They can get fitted too."

"Guys, I need to tell you something," Natasha interrupted loudly through the girls' plans. "I . . . I have to drop out of this fashion show."

"Wait, what?" Darcy said, confused.

"I'm serious. I can't do it."

"Natasha, you can't just drop out," Pepper said worriedly. "We're counting on you."

The words just made Natasha feel even worse. "I know, but there is a lot going on and stuff, and I can't really talk about it. I'm sorry." And with that happy note, she spun around and stalked out quickly, back ramrod straight.

"What was wrong with her?" Darcy demanded, shocked at the redhead's odd behavior.

"I dunno," shrugged the blonde next to her.

"I bet her boyfriend would know," Jane said, cradling her chin on her hand. Pepper nodded again and began dialing into her phone.


	8. Live

A few hours later, all of the girls except for Natasha, who was obviously at Steve's house, Sif, who was with Thor, no doubt, and Darcy, who was on a date with Ian, trying to convince him that she never had a secret crush on Steve, were hanging out in Hill's loft, decorating the place further when a knock sounded at the door. Giving a pointed look to the others, Pepper climbed down from the stool she had been standing on and grasped the handle of the door. She swung it open to reveal Steve standing in front, a hand on either side of the doorjamb.

"Hey," he greeted with a nod and a small smile. "I got your message. What's up?"

"We need to talk," Pepper told him, voice grave and eyes fixed in his seriously.

The sandy haired boy in front of her frowned in uncertainty. "We do?" he repeated and she hooked her fingers into his collar and hauled him inside. "Whoa!"

Pepper pushed him over to the center of the room, where Jane and Hill had walked over to. Hill, sitting in one of the armchairs with fingers laced together, looked like one of the creepy villains from an action flick. "Greetings, Rogers," she said in a stern voice and the blonde tried not to laugh.

"Uhm, hi?"

"Sit down," ordered Jane firmly and she rammed her hands into his shoulders, knocking him down onto the couch next to Pepper, who had an arm draped across the couch herself. Steve looked around the room nervously and sat up. This was not looking good for him.

"So what did you want me here for?" he inquired, eyes darting around the room and avoiding all of the women's eyes in turn.

"Natasha quit the fundraiser, and we think you know why," Jane informed.

"You do?"

Hill nodded. "Of course, You're her boyfriend."

"Right!" he piped up in an almost too cheerful voice, holding up a finger. His smile then wilted and he dropped his hand down, staring down at the floor intently with a guilty sigh. "All right. You guys deserve the truth. Natasha and I . . . aren't really going out."

Jane gasped loudly in shock. "You broke up with her?!"

"That's why she quit the fundraiser," Pepper finally realized, saying the sentence in a revelation like tone. "She's upset because you broke her heart."

"No!" Steve shook his head vigorously in denial. "I didn't break up with her!"

"Oh, please," dismissed Hill with a wave of her hand, sharp blue eyes pointed upwards. "Like Natasha had any reason in the world to break up with you."

"No, you guys, seriously! I-" He broke off abruptly at realizing the brunette's words. Steve then began slowly, "Why wouldn't Natasha break up with me?"

"Because she loves you too much," the other brunette informed him. "She has for a really long time."

"Really? Cool," sighed Steve dreamily, plopping back on the couch and gazing up at the ceiling with sparkling blue eyes.

"Yes, very cool," said Pepper encouragingly. "And we know you love her too." She then heaved him up off the couch and toward the door, still speaking. "So you have to go to her place and get this all straightened out. You guys are too good together to let a little fight break you up." Finally pushing him gently out of the loft, she slammed the door shut on his back. The bang of the noise finally awoke him from his dreamy expression, his eyes flying wide open.

"Wait!" he called. "Natasha and I were never-" Knowing that they couldn't hear him, Steve shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "Oh, forget it." Walking outside of the loft's door towards the stairs to the sidewalk, he pulled out his phone and dialed in the redhead's number. What he didn't notice was a certain couple departing with a kiss and the dark haired woman of that couple starting down the sidewalk towards Hill's place.

"Hey, Nat, it's me," he said, and Darcy froze in her tracks. She wondered if she should turn around and walk back to Ian or if she should listen in. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she ducked in under the stairs.

"Look, I don't know if I can do this anymore," Steve was saying into his cell phone, most likely to Natasha. He paused for a moment before saying, "Your girlfriends are trying to save our relationship when we're not even going out in the first place." Darcy's eyes gaped at this, but the next thing shocked her even more. "Just tell that you're failing Selvig's classes. They'll understand. And remember what I said about telling another person?" Another pause later, she heard the boy sigh, "Okay, fine, I'll come over."

Darcy's head peeked out covertly to see Steve turn the opposite street and around the corner. The black haired girl then rushed up the stairs and threw open the door. The talking girls froze.

"You guys," she confirmed in a breathless voice. "I know why Natasha actually quit the fashion show fundraiser."

* * *

"I just don't get it!" the red haired woman complained as she stared down at the confusing textbook with a pencil in her hand. She bowed her head. "It just does not make sense to me."

"Try it again," said Steve once again in a gentle and encouraging tone. But they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Steve, it's Jane," said a certain female someone from outside the door. Natasha's mouth fell open and she whirled around to face Steve with a burning glower, who helplessly shrugged, raised his hands and mouthed, _I swear that I didn't say anything._

Jane obviously noticed the silence and added, "I know Natasha's in there, Steve and I will bust the door down if you don't open up."

"Go with me on this," whispered Natasha as she walked to the door and then said loudly, "How can you say that? I can't believe you could be so insensitive!" She opened the door a crack and peeped out at the angry brunette. "Hey, Jane. Look, this isn't the best time-"

"I know why you you quit the fashion show," interrupted Jane and forced the door open wider. "Steve, could I talk to Natasha alone, please?"

"Sure," Steve said, walking out of the room, ignoring the second glare the redhead was sending him. She then turned away from Jane once the door had closed. Jane stared at her.

"I don't get it. Physics and math are my best subjects. Why didn't you just ask me for help in the first place?"

Natasha sunk down onto Steve's soft bed and started fiddling with her hair again. "Physics isn't so bad anymore, but you're great in math while it just makes my brain short out, which makes me feel like a total loser."

"You're kidding. I would never think you were a loser. And you're fantastic at geometry."

"Yep, that's what the 'F' is for," quipped Natasha snarkily. "Fantastic."

"Loo,, geometry is the math for shapes, right?" Jane instructed, holding up a triangular shaped protractor. "You know what else is all about shapes?" She gestured to the pieces of paper behind her on the note book next to the textbook. "Fashion designs. You use this stuff everyday. You just don't recognize it in the textbook."

Natasha walked over to her, shaking her head. "Jane, I don't have time to study and design the costumes."

"You still don't get it," Jane countered and held up the notebook. "The best way for you to understand geometry is making costumes. Trust me?"

After a moment, the redhead looked back at the brunette. "Yeah, I trust you."

* * *

After hours of designing, crumpling papers, sticking and glueing, cutting and snipping, trying and fitting, drawing and stenciling curves, lines and shapes, Jane had given Natasha a paper full of questions and she finished it in ten minutes. Handing it over to the brunette, the redhead stared anxiously until Jane gave her a thumbs up, ending the session with a high five.

"Wow!" Pepper exclaimed once the other girls got there and Natasha explained everything to them, staring at her very good looking costume. "These are too cool!"

"Awesome!" cried out Darcy.

"You did really well on this," complimented Hill on her own outfit, adjusting the belt around her ordinary jeans.

"Yeah, and I can't believe I used geometry to do it, Natasha said, jumping down from the bed. "I feel so stupid for hiding it from you guys in the first place. I mean, come on, forcing Steve to be my boyfriend? Damn it."

"Believe me, I don't think he minded," Darcy said, shaking her head while examining a piece of sparkly cloth.

"That's not true," Natasha said obliviously. "Darcy, you totally have a chance with him now."

"What? Why would I want a chance with- Oh, right. My secret crush on Steve. Look, Natasha, I only said that so you wouldn't find out-" She paused when she saw Hill clapping a hand over her mouth, Pepper waving her hands around and Jane pointing to Natasha with a worried expression, all of them behind her back. The redhead stared at her expectantly.

"You know what? It doesn't matter, but I don't have a crush on Steve at all," the black haired woman assured.

"But then what-"

"So Nat," Hill slid in, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Think you're ready for the test?"

"Totally," the redhead said, bobbing her head. "I just want to get it over with so I can focus in the fashion show. It's going to be the amazing night ever!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Mm hmm."

"You bet it is." And the other girls looked at each other slyly, knowing about what was coming right after the fashion show.

"Uh, but Nat, one question: What are we doing in Steve's house?" Pepper inquired. Everyone else looked over at her.

"I just like to hang out here," she shrugged.

When the other girls dismissed themselves so they could go finish up other things, Pepper was the last to leave. "Okay, now that everyone is gone," she started, crossing her arms. "Are you now going to tell me why you're living with Steve? You did say you weren't actually dating, right?"

Natasha stared down at the ground, remembering Steve's words and her promise. "Okay, but you can't tell anyone," she whispered in the most grave tone she had ever used.

Ten minutes later, Pepper was gasping. "That son of a bitch!" she cried out in an intense but quiet tone. "How dare he do that to you!"

"Well, you're taking it better than Steve did," Natasha quipped.

"Wait, Steve knows?"

"Why do you think I'm living with him? He was the one who forced it on me."

"And you just happened to agree?" Pepper slyly smiled. Natasha shoved down a blush.

"Well, uh, it was a big fight, I'll tell you that."

"Come on. You like him."

After a few minutes of silence, Natasha finally admitted, "Yeah."

"Then what's keeping you from telling him that? He obviously likes you too."

"I know, but-"

"Theere are no 'buts'. You have to tell him."

"How?"

"I'm sure after the fashion show would be nice," Pepper suggested.

"Hmm . . ."

"Natasha, you can't let your grades and your foster father get you down. You have to-"

"I know. I have to live. Life's too short for me to keep waiting for things to happen," Natasha said with a burst of wisdom coming into her words.

"Exactly. And I'm glad you told me about this." The blonde wrapped the redhead in a hug before leaving.

"Me too, Peps.

* * *

Downstairs, Steve lay on the couch and heard the front door shut again. Then the sound of footsteps padding down the stairs towards the couch he was sitting on. He turned around and knew he was in trouble form the mischievous grin a redhead was sending him.

"Hey, soldier," she inclined her head to him, saying the very short sentence in a seductive voice. He swallowed down a lump in his throat.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to thank you for helping me through everything."

"Thank me how?" he nervously stuttered. She raised an eyebrow.

"Whoa there, Rogers. I didn't know you liked getting paid like _that_."

"I don't!" Steve quickly exclaimed, furiously blushing. "It's just that-"

Her marvelous laugh cut him off. "I'm playing with you again, silly. But," she said with a solemn expression. "I really did want to thank you for the studying."

"Anytime." Before he could catch himself from what he was doing, he leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her cheek, but he fumbled for a moment and it landed on the spot between her cheek and the corner of her mouth. Her breath caught for a moment before she smiled.

* * *

**A/N: Sadly, this is the second to last chapter of this fanfic and I appreciated all of your support. Just a random question to you readers, do you ship Sam and Hill together? I think it would be great, but I'm not using it in this fanfic, unless you want them to. Please say so in an review. Credits to juillet15 for the kiss thing. Again, don't own anything.**


	9. Surprise

That Friday night, after a long day of waiting anxiously and restlessly at school and cleaning up, there was loads of excitement both in front of the stage and backstage. Everyone was running around, getting last adjustments to their sparkling outfits and fixing their hair and make up.

"Five minutes, everyone!" called out Clint, who was checking off names on the clipboard. Natasha was standing next to him, clad in a gorgeous mermaid outfit, complete with a fluffy white jacket and glittering turquoise tail and a matching mask. Her bruises managed to heal, so she was looking great as usual. Her long red hair spilled around her shoulders.

"Thanks, Clint," she said gratefully.

"No problem." He gave her an appreciative once over. "You look amazing."

"Thanks!" Natasha replied and he walked away just when Steve crept up behind her.

"You're drooling," teased the sandy haired boy, who was wearing a wrestling outfit and the redhead glowered at him fiercely.

"Shut up! I am not!"

"Hey, Natasha," prodded Hill in a kitty cat costume. "You didn't tell us. How'd you do on the test?"

"I kicked major geometric ass, that's what," the red haired female announced proudly with a flourish of her arms.

"Yeah!" congratulated Pepper.

"All right!" Hill fist pumped.

"Awesome!" Steve said, hugging her, which Natasha returned after a few stunned seconds.

"Boring!" cried Tony and pulling the sandy haired man away from his redheaded crush, he then whispered over to Steve, "Even if it was fake dating, you did manage to sleep with her, right?" He nudged him in the ribs with his elbow, a huge grin crossing his lips. The other boy looked back, a horrified expression on his face.

"No!"

"No?" the dark haired boy repeated incredulously and looked at him in disgust. "What's wrong with you?"

"Unlike you, I'm not desperate to lose my virginity," snapped Steve.

Tony shot him another funny look with a mischievous glint in his dark brown eyes. "Who said I'm a virgin?"

Steve looked positively disgusted himself.

"Oh my God!" Pepper suddenly cried out and began to fix the chocolate brown butterfly wings of her costume nervously. "It's starting."

* * *

A long few hours of strutting down runways and flaunting their costumes with the little pets of theirs, the teenagers were wiped out and practically sweating backstage. "Who wants to crash somewhere right now?" Darcy sighed and raised her own hand. Ian immediately high fived it and the black haired girl stared at him grumpily before kissing him. Tony shielded his eyes.

"Oh, pretty please get a room!" he begged in horror and Darcy reluctantly pulled away from Ian with a glare directed towards Tony, who only harrumphed his blonde girlfriend a little more.

"We did it!" grinned Jane in her rock star outfit.

"It was amazing," Sif nodded and the two girls were managing to keep their rivalry on the down low.

"Listen to them," Steve said, whipping off his boxing mask and peeking through the lavender curtains to hear the roaring of the crowds outside. "They loved it!"

"Oh please!" Tony waved his hand in dismissal. "They only loved me. In fact, I'll go out there for their dying encore!" He was about to make an exit when Clint and Banner grabbed an arm each and dragged him back inside, despite his very loud protests.

"I think we need to celebrate," Pepper announced, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder and hugging Natasha's shoulders. "What do you say we all go for a little outing somewhere?"

The redhead shrugged, still hyper from the excitement. "Yeah, sounds great!"

Pepper shot a pointed look to her dark haired boyfriend, who at first didn't get it until she covertly shoved him in the stomach with her arm. "Ow! You girls go ahead," he instructed nonchalantly. "The guys and I will catch up with you later."

Natasha led them out, oblivious of the quiet giggles behind her.

* * *

"I can't believe we drove around for an hour and couldn't figure out one place to go," the red haired woman complained after taking off her sequined mask with a sigh. She looked at the girls in front of her with impatience as they currently stood in front of the door of Hill's loft.

"It's because we're all dressed up," Hill explained, turning away to hide the huge grin creeping up on her tanned face. She pretended to fumble with the key as she inserted it into the lock. "We can stop here for now and change into regular outfits."

She swung the door open, revealing a pitch black empty room and flipped on the light switch . . .

"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled at the top of their lungs at the very astonished, caught off guard and speechless Natasha. Everyone was laughing and smiling and the redhead spun around to face the girls who had planned it all. They all clapped a hand over their mouths and then waved their hands in a Ta Dan fashion.

"Surprise!"

"You guys, my birthday is a month away from now!" she exclaimed, clutching her hair in a happy and still hyper manner.

"How else were we supposed to make it a surprise?" pointed out Jane, her dark brown hair flying and the dark haired girl next to her heaved in a huge breath and sighed it out exaggeratedly.

"Finally! I actually managed to hold in the secret!" Darcy boasted out in triumph and all of the girls laughed.

"I love it! Thank you so much!" And all of the other girls squashed her in a bear hug, which she sank into for a moment before noticing a familiar figure sauntering up to them with her blue green orbs. She rolled them once in her sockets.

"Did anyone ask for drinks?" Tony said and handed the other glass in his hand to Pepper. Darcy immediately snatched the one in his hand and he looked up at her in angry shock.

"That would be me," she smugly added and took a grateful sip.

Phil Coulson was currently at the DJ turn tables and clicked it on, spinning the wheels around expertly. The girls scattered among the dance floor and Natasha was left with Darcy, who sidled up to her.

"This is why I wasn't speaking to you," Darcy explained to her in a bashful tone. "I'm the worst at keeping secrets, remember?" She winked at the redhead, who laughed in a breathless tone.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed slowly in emphasis, her fiery red locks flying everywhere. "You were the best! I totally thought you were jealous about me going out with Steve and everything."

The said boy suddenly materialized next to them, swaying to the music. "Well, what can I say?" he shrugged in a seeming helpless way but was wearing a smug smile and Darcy hid another smile as Natasha planted her hands on her hips with a stern pout. "I have that effect on girls."

As Darcy disappeared into the swarming crowd of gyrating people, Natasha slugged him on the arm in a half serious, half playful manner. "Did you know about all of this?" she demanded, waving her hands around.

"Yeah, I did," he admitted with another smirk to the fiery haired girl in front of him, who leaned back and crossed her arms, but couldn't help a entertained beam at his cheekiness.

"I can't believe you! You never said a thing."

Steve shrugged. "It was a surprise-" But he was knocked off his feet when Natasha flung her arms around his sturdy frame in a breathtaking hug. He quickly patted her back and blushed deeply until she pulled away, her eyes stunningly soft and glowing as she gazed at him.

"I never really thanked you for pretending to be my boyfriend," she whispered up at his face.

"Hey, no problem," he nervously laughed. "You don't even have to. It was . . . easy. I mean-" But Natasha interrupted him before he started a long and awkward conversation and he was grateful for that.

"Yeah. You know, the weird thing was that nobody was really surprised when they thought that we were going out together."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Weird, huh?" He then turned away from her lovely face and pointed over to where Clint was enjoying a drink with Coulson and some other friends. "You know, Clint is still totally into you. You should tell him that we're not really together. He'll be psyched."

The redhead stared off into the distance for a moment. "Yeah, maybe," she murmured absentmindedly. The only reason she had flirted with Clint in The Dish was to mask her true feelings for Steve and to make him slightly jealous, which worked. She then remembered her and Pepper's words together and then asked once a slow song played in the background, "Hey, wanna dance?" She offered her hand.

"Sure, I'd love to," he smiled shyly, taking it and sweeping her into his arms. _Here goes nothing._

"Steve, there's something I need to tell you," she murmured into his shoulder a few minutes into the dance. Steve slowed his pace even more so Natasha could pull away from him.

"Yeah, me too. Clint said that when you guys broke up, it was because of somebody else. Can I know what exactly he meant by that?" He raised an oblivious eyebrow. The woman in his arms had the ghost of a smile tracing her soft pink lips when she looked back at him.

"You, Steve. It was always you." And just like back on the escalator in the mall that day, she crashed her lips onto his, which he immediately reciprocated to. He pulled away just for a moment to whisper, "Damn." She giggled and leaned up to kiss him again.

Just a couple of meters away, all of the other teenagers in their group stared at them happily. Pepper gasped once she turned around and saw them. "Check it out!" she gushed and Tony just let out a bored, unimpressed, "Ew."

"I have to say, this party has been a massive success," agreed Hill with Sam's arm slung around her shoulders. The blond picked up her glass full of a sweet pink liquid and raised it in a toast.

"Ahem! Cheers to us," she announced.

Darcy lifted her own. "To keeping secrets," she said with a laugh as she leaned into Ian.

"To sharing secrets," called out a new voice and everyone now spun around to see Steve and Natasha walking up with their own glasses and Steve's arm wrapped around Natasha and Pepper once again cooed at their cuteness while Tony rolled his eyes. "With the best friends a person could ever had."

"Yo, Rogers. Does this mean you're actually dating now?" Tony inquired to Steve after they all toasted and sipped on their drinks. Steve then shifted over to face Natasha, who looked back at him haughtily and expectantly.

"So, doing anything fun this Saturday night?"

* * *

**A/N: This is the end, but no worries, there is a sequel. Well, not exactly a sequel, but another Romanogers fanfic. It's on my profile called You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart. Please go and read it and thank you so much to everyone who supported and read this! :D :) ;) xoxo -N**


	10. Must Read Author's Note!

**Hey again! This is not an update, just an author's note to everyone. I'm afraid I won't be able to write any chpater like stories for a while so I can't write that Romanogers vs. Winter Widow story. I am so genuinely and truly sorry, but consider a somewhat blessing that you don't have to sit and wait anxiously for Romanogers to get together by the very end of the story. However, I will create a lot of one shots for them, including an Avengers version of a certain TV show episode that I'm sure everyone watched and loved. Please check out Texts From the Cold War on my profile! And the new Romanogers/Pepperony/Bucky x Darcy story called You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart, now on my profile as well! And the most recent one will be on my profile soon, so keep checking! Again, thank you so much for all of your support and please read, review and favorite the next fanfic! ;) :D -N**


	11. New Story Alert

**Hey readers! Look, if you liked this story, will you pretty please go and check out my new Romanogers fanfic, You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart? Read and review and favorite! It's a bit slow, but no worries, Romanogers will prevail in a chapter or two. Thanks so much! :D -N**


	12. New Story Alert 2

**Sorry for doing this again, but again, if you liked this story, will you pretty please go and check out my other new Romanogers fanfic, Nothing Compares 2 U? _Read and review and favorite!_ This is full out Romanogers, people! Thanks so much! :D -N**


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